Christian County has elected a new Emergency Management Agency Director. Jeff Stoner was nominated by Chairman of the Board Matt Wells to be the new EMA Director for the county. Stoner is a firefighter for the city of Taylorville and Wells says he is very excited to have him on board. 

Wells continued by saying that while there will be problems, he feels that they picked the right person for the job.

The board approved a salary of $15,000/year that would be prorated since Stoner was taking over halfway through May. The board will also be hiring a part-time EMA person that will make $8,000 a year. There was some discussion about whether or not that would be enough money for the job that they do. Chairman Wells said they would revisit that topic at a later date. 

The board also discussed the Comprehensive Economic Development Plan. Matt Wells has a meeting with some higher-ups to discuss the next steps for this plan as the city of Taylorville and some of the other towns have already approved this. The county once again tabled the motion in an effort to learn more about it and sent it back to the finance committee. Wells says he probably should have explained it a little better in his presentation.

In other news from the County Board meeting, the board will be getting some money coming in grant-wise from the American Rescue Plan Act. There was talk about what that money would go to with some suggesting they use it for the jail. Treasurer Betty Asmussen said she wouldn’t know until July what that money would be allowed to be used for. Stay tuned to Regional Radio News for more on this story.